Sen. Dennis Guth has asked Sen. Matt McCoy to get lunch, hoping to put his remarks against gays behind them.

Guth made remarks against the “homosexual lifestyle,” on the Iowa Senate floor.

Guth’s main concern is the health issues that go along with gay relationships. The information he used to back up his opinion was based on statistics available from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

McCoy, who is openly gay, is willing to get lunch with Guth and suggested they go to Des Moines’ East Village. He even suggested walking past Blazing Saddle, a gay bar.

“As of today, I am still waiting for Sen. McCoy to personally respond to my offer,” Guth said. Guth’s comments gained a great deal of backlash from reporters and other senators.

LGBT members on campus have also put in their two cents about the whole ordeal.

Sarah Miller, the Education and Outreach Chair of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Ally Alliance, said “His testimony on the Senate floor was an attempt to mislead Iowans through red herring fallacies and fear-mongering under the guise of providing impressionable youth with a complete version of the ‘facts’ regarding same-sex relationships.”

Sarah suggested Guth’s information was taken out of context “in order to characterize same-sex relationships in a negative light.”

Another big question about this issue is, should the topic of gay rights and situations like this even be involved in politics.

“I think that it is important to talk about sexual orientation and gender identity within the sphere of politics provided that the focus is kept on the diversity of individuals within a given political constituency,” said Blake Miller, treasurer of Beta Lambda Chapter and president-elect of LGBTAA. “And not on winning political points for supporting the cause of one group over another within the plurality of interests in our political process.”

While having nearly the same opinion about Guth’s testimony about gay marriage, Sarah and Blake had different opinions on how the situation has been dealt with.

“I applaud Sen. Guth for attempting to start a dialogue and for his willingness to sit down and have a mutually educational dialogue. I applaud Sen. McCoy for living openly and for continuing to represent the interests of LGBTQQIA individuals in the state of Iowa,” Blake said.

“His willingness to sit down with an individual whose statements and viewpoints are diametrically opposed to his own illustrates his character as a human being and his value as a legislator who advocates for the equality of all people in the state of Iowa.”

They do agree that Guth and McCoy meeting for lunch could be beneficial in many ways.

“The lunch invitation from Sen. Guth was an attempt to improve his image after some incredibly inflammatory remarks. However, I think it can only be beneficial that our representatives engage in conversations on diversity and make connections with the Iowans they represent,” Sarah said.